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Saturday, 10 August 2013

Karen Black, Easy Rider actress dies aged 74

Hollywood star
Karen Black, who featured in cult films such as Five Easy Pieces and Nashville,
has died aged 74.

Hugely prolific, the Illinois-born actress appeared
in more than 100 movies over a career spanning 40 years.

She shot to fame in 1969, starring as a prostitute in
Easy Rider opposite Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

She died at a clinic in Los Angeles, three years
after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Her fourth husband, Stephen Eckelberry, posted
the news on his Facebook page.

"It is with great sadness that I have to report
that my wife and best friend, Karen Black has just passed away, only a few
minutes ago," he wrote.

"Thank you all for all your prayers and love,
they meant so much to her as they did to me."

"So I got him this huge, gold-embossed
dictionary that said Diction-Harry, at the end of the shoot."

By the end of the 1970s, Black struggled to find quality
roles and appeared mainly low-budget horror movies. In the 80s she moved into
television, filming roles in series such as Miami Vice, Party of Five and Law
and Order.

In 1993, she acted in a film which would turn out to
actor River Phoenix's last, following his death from a drug overdose. Dark
Blood was finally completed last year and was shown at a number of
international film festivals.

According
to film site IMDB, the actress had completed two recent projects - the
drama She Loves Me Not, starring Cary Elwes and the forthcoming film The Being
Experience - opposite Alan Cumming and Terrence Howard.

Despite Black's extensive filmography, she had to
turn to the public to help pay her healthcare costs after she was diagnosed
with cancer.